RPCVtg writes: I feel that 20/20's decision to frame Kate's story in terms of the abuse/molestation of girls in her village to be misguided and irresponsible

Because this took place in the same region where I served, I have been following several volunteers' blogs with information on the incident. Through the link below, you can see the full text of Kate's email to Peace Corps administration. Though she does mention rumors of misconduct with students, the main allegation of her message is that the language instructor had inappropriate, though consensual, relationships with Peace Corps trainees. http://mtbolin.wordpress.com/information- about-kate-puzey/ (It's puzzling that 20/20 chose to show camera shots of highlighted text from the email, but not report on the message in its entirety.)Obviously, there are lessons to be learned and - no pun intended - hindsight is 20/20. But I find ABC's decision to paint her murder in terms of the sexual abuse of African girls to be reprehensible and nothing more than an effort to sensationalize the story. Kate was no doubt an enthusiastic, effective and dedicated volunteer - but it also seems possible that Peace Corps administration acted on what they thought was a policy infraction between a staff member and adult volunteers, and they had no reason to think that the individual would react violently after losing a part-time job with Peace Corps when he still had a teaching job.I hope that Peace Corps as an organization improves policies and protocol relating to their actions in response to a volunteer death, but I am not sure that they could have realistically predicted or prevented such a horrible crime from occurring based on the information they had at the time.

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As a returned Peace Corps volunteer who served in West Africa, I agree that there are lessons for the organization to learn from this horrible tragedy - particularly with respect to communication with families and protocol when a volunteer dies.However, I feel that 20/20's decision to frame Kate's story in terms of the abuse/molestation of girls in her village to be misguided and irresponsible. Because this took place in the same region where I served, I have been following several volunteers' blogs with information on the incident. Through the link below, you can see the full text of Kate's email to Peace Corps administration. Though she does mention rumors of misconduct with students, the main allegation of her message is that the language instructor had inappropriate, though consensual, relationships with Peace Corps trainees. http://mtbolin.wordpress.com/information- about-kate-puzey/(It's puzzling that 20/20 chose to show camera shots of highlighted text from the email, but not report on the message in its entirety.)Obviously, there are lessons to be learned and - no pun intended - hindsight is 20/20. But I find ABC's decision to paint her murder in terms of the sexual abuse of African girls to be reprehensible and nothing more than an effort to sensationalize the story. Kate was no doubt an enthusiastic, effective and dedicated volunteer - but it also seems possible that Peace Corps administration acted on what they thought was a policy infraction between a staff member and adult volunteers, and they had no reason to think that the individual would react violently after losing a part-time job with Peace Corps when he still had a teaching job.I hope that Peace Corps as an organization improves policies and protocol relating to their actions in response to a volunteer death, but I am not sure that they could have realistically predicted or prevented such a horrible crime from occurring based on the information they had at the time.

Support Independent Funding for the Third GoalThe Peace Corps has always neglected the third goal, allocating less than 1% of their resources to "bringing the world back home." Senator Dodd addressed this issue in the "Peace Corps for the 21st Century" bill passed by the US Senate and Peace Corps Director Ron Tschetter proposed a "Peace Corps Foundation" at no cost to the US government. Both are good approaches but the recent "Comprehensive Assessment Report" didn't address the issue of independent funding for the third goal at all.

Memo to Incoming Director WilliamsPCOL has asked five prominent RPCVs and Staff to write a memo on the most important issues facing the Peace Corps today. Issues raised include the independence of the Peace Corps, political appointments at the agency, revitalizing the five-year rule, lowering the ET rate, empowering volunteers, removing financial barriers to service, increasing the agency's budget, reducing costs, and making the Peace Corps bureaucracy more efficient and responsive. Latest: Greetings from Director Williams

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Story Source: ABC News

This story has been posted in the following forums: : Headlines; COS - Benin; Safety; Crime; Murder; Television

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